The Spanish colleagues of esmtb. com they know well David valero: Spanish from Andalusia won his first stage of the World Cup after a 3rd place at Tokyo Olympics 2021. But he is no longer very young (born in 1988).
Together with Jose Antonio Hermida, is the second Spanish biker to win in the World Cup.
TOP SHAPE
Its form is exceptional, without it there is no chance of victory. Yes. There is no secret. David Valero is exceptionally strong at this stage of the year. We have already seen it in Vallnord. His style has always been based on physical power, the most important point of him, and yesterday he proved it once again. He did his fastest lap on the last lap (10:20, just 1 second from Blevins and Carod's fastest lap of 10:19 on the first full lap) and, in the final climbs (especially uphill) he was great long the strongest of the breed.
LONGER RACE
A 10 minute race longer than most of this year's trials. Valero stopped the clock at 1:25:11. Only the Petropolis race (with 1:26:52) was longer, but most of the other races this year were around an hour and a quarter (if we think of the 2 hours plus a few dozen of years ago we understand how the cross country has changed completely). Normally Valero has difficulties at the start and this certainly helped him.
HEIGHT
Valero spends a lot of time at high altitude: Snowshoe is about 1500m above sea level, not very high but you can feel the thin air a bit. David Valero is a regular in the Sierra Nevada living not too far away (Baza).
NO BREAKAGE
Luck or experience? When an athlete punctures we think it's always bad luck but let's look at Blevins for example: he risked a puncture to throw the race because he wanted to make a difference in the downhill (and he succeeded in many situations). Or Filippo Colombo: top physical condition who tried to win at all costs, risking everywhere, but it didn't go well (a fall and a puncture). Risks of the trade. Valero did a “clean” race: he knows his limits on the downhill and he knows that he must be daring in the uphill sections.
EXPERIENCE
Experience is very important in solving races (he says Nino Schurter) and Valero has it. He is perfectly aware of his strengths over his rivals and their weaknesses. A few meters from the finish he was with Carod and Blevins. Bad opponents to fight for the victory in a hypothetical sprint, especially with the world champion of Short Track. It was clear that he had to give everything in the slightly flat and uphill sections and so he did: he didn't wait a second longer and went on to win!
